Zheng emerges from Chinese derby victorious, confident

After winning a highly anticipated Chinese derby to enter her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal on clay, China's top women's ace Zheng Qinwen said her best is yet to come.

Relying on her powerful serves and aggressive one-two punches, the 21st-ranked Zheng prevailed in the all-Chinese battle in the round of 16 at the Italian Open after beating her compatriot Wang Xiyu, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, in two hours and 30 minutes on Monday to reach quarterfinals at the top WTA tournament.

It will be the second time for Zheng to go that far at the WTA 1000 level and the first time on clay, a surface where Chinese players have not traditionally excelled.

The fourth-round run also marked the best result of Wang's young career on the WTA Tour.

"Of course there was some extra emotions to compete against another Chinese player, who played really well. We both wanted to win this important match. I just tried to approach it as another regular match without getting carried away by the pressure and exposure," said Zheng, a 21-year-old native of Hubei province.

This bout was a rematch of last June's final at the WTA 125K tournament in Valencia, Spain, where Zheng also outplayed Wang in a close three-setter.

Zheng reached her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal in Toronto last year via defeats of Ons Jabeur and Bianca Andreescu. Her run in Rome has improved her 2023 season win-loss record to 16-8 and is expected to lift her into the world's top 20 next week.

Despite the impressive outing on clay, Zheng believes she still has plenty of potential.

"Most of the time, I actually didn't play my best. Hopefully next match I could bring out the best in myself without thinking too much," Zheng said.

Zheng will next face either No 11 seed Veronika Kudermetova or No 27 seed Marie Bouzkova in a bid to reach her second semifinal of the season, following Abu Dhabi in February.

"It's feels great to pull off tough wins one after another. I'd like to see whether I could step up a gear to bring my game to the next level," she said.